Do We Really Need An Amy Winehouse Hologram Tour, Though?

Apparently one is in the works for 2019, and it will feature a live band.

Most people don’t want to think about their own death. If they do, it’s not in any sort of real way. We imagine floating around and haunting the people who have wronged us, for a short while. But it’s hard to grasp the permanence of what happens when you no longer live inside the flesh cage that encases your soul (or whatever you believe in). It’s equally hard to imagine how people will commemorate your life once you’re gone.

All of which is to say: there’s going to be an Amy Winehouse tour in 2019. But as she’s no longer with us (she died of alcohol poisoning seven years ago, in 2011), her image will be turned into a hologram, with a live band accompanying vocals from her original recordings. According to what her father, Mitch Winehouse, told Reuters, all proceeds from the concerts will benefit the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

“Fans have been clamouring for something new from Amy, but really there isn’t anything new,” he explained in a statement. “We felt this would be a tremendous way for Amy both to revisit her fans through a hologram, and also an incredible way to raise money for our foundation.”

It is obviously very nice for fans to gather together and celebrate a person’s music after their death. And it is also very nice to raise money for a charity that works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people (both of those things: good!)

But there is something strange about doing that with a hologram, right? One of the best things about being alive, imo, is: A) the ability to make free choices relating to your own existence; and B) the idea that you are a soft, breathing, sentient being that can connect with others of your own volition. The idea that somebody’s image would be turned into a hologram – which can do neither of the aforementioned – feels a little hollow.

Plus, isn't the point and joy of a live show the idea that you are having a fleeting but very real connection with an artist whose music you enjoy? Isn't watching a hologram do the same thing kind of like biting into a pizza that looks like oozing, melting cheese and rich tomato sauce and sizzling, salty pepperoni, but is actually perfectly painted cardboard. But it's the idea of the pizza that counts right?

Or maybe I'm just being overly sentimental and resisting the future and actually it's not that deep. Maybe the multiple Amy Winehouse documentaries are not enough, and we need more. In the meantime, have a read of last year's deep dive into the world of the musical hologram.